ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, December 21, 1996 TAG: 9612230048
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: PAUL ATTNER THE SPORTING NEWS
FORGET DISNEYLAND, come see PantherWorld, where the atmosphere is genteel, the players polite and the team's a playoff contender in only its second season.
Welcome to PantherWorld, the most magical land in the NFL, where football fantasies can come true if you believe fervently enough in the power of hard work and clean living and the glories of free agency and the salary cap.
In PantherWorld, old players suddenly perform like they are 25, journeymen become standouts and almost all of the players are polite, sign autographs and actually behave as if they are enjoying themselves. In PantherWorld, a second-year expansion team can emerge as a real-deal powerhouse with a roar that has a decidedly southern drawl, a general manager can get a second chance to build a Super Bowl challenger and a head coach can prove that attention to detail and a confusing defensive scheme can result in success.
In PantherWorld, games are staged in a breathtakingly majestic stadium, where huge panther statues guard the entrances, seats cost a mini-fortune and fans still are learning the proper moments to cheer - but they'd better not take off their shirts or they risk being ejected.
In PantherWorld, everything is precise and immaculate, smiles are bountiful and employees scurry around carrying walkie-talkies to communicate. Even the president has a security card hanging around his neck, because in this world, doors are unlocked only to the privileged.
The hottest team in the NFL resides within PantherWorld. Already fully developed despite being only 2 years old, the Panthers - the players, not the statues - are treading in territory no previous expansion franchise has dared visit so quickly. Sporting a six-game winning streak, triumphant in 18 of their past 26 contests, already assured of a playoff spot, the Panthers are no fluke.
With one of the NFL's most formidable defenses, an offense that makes mistakes begrudgingly and special teams that are among the most solid, the Panthers will be a dangerous playoff opponent.
Short climb to the top
If you had been in PantherWorld last Thursday, inside a locker room large enough to stage a high school graduation, you might have become a believer in PantherPower. On this day, seven Panthers are told they have made the Pro Bowl. Coming just four days after a stunning victory over the regal 49ers in San Francisco, the announcement is treated like a coronation, crowning PantherWorld's arrival as an acknowledged member of the NFL elite. PantherWorld residents may no longer wail about lack of respect; previously, no second-year NFL expansion team has had more than four players make the all-star game. Now, this parade of Panthers has been honored.
``I've always approached it that you don't have to respect me when you first see me, but when the game is over, I'd hope you would respect me - and that is what has happened to this team,'' says linebacker Sam Mills, an undersized overachiever who has spent his career thriving on a belief that his abilities aren't appreciated, a message he preaches despite four previous Pro Bowl appearances. But Mills can't complain anymore; at 37, he has become the oldest non-kicker ever to be named a Pro Bowl starter.
All around him, an informal celebration within PantherWorld is under way. As other Pro Bowlers walk in, they are greeted by cheers and handshakes. It is a giddy moment, collegiate in nature. You almost expect everyone to break out singing the team fight song - if one existed. The Panthers haven't had time to develop a more blase attitude toward such occasions; everything to them still is refreshingly new and exciting. And they remain just as surprised and overwhelmed by the speed of their ascent as anyone outside the team complex. Remember, before now, no second-year expansion club finished above .500.
Look at linebacker Lamar Lathon, standing over by his locker. He's sporting a smile as wide as the Nutty Professor's rear end, relishing his first selection to the game. Lathon, an emotional sort with exceptional physical skills, wanted to make the Pro Bowl so badly he couldn't sleep the night before the announcement. There's even a little extra bounce to muscle-bound Kevin Greene's cocky strut; after all, the Steelers didn't want to pay the veteran linebacker what he wanted to stay in Pittsburgh, nor did the rest of the league exactly rush to sign him in the off-season. But, working out of Coach Dom Capers' ingenious zone-blitz schemes, Greene has combined with Lathon to terrorize quarterbacks and join him on the Pro Bowl team. They've accounted for 28 sacks and even knocked each other woozy once when they collided trying to make a tackle in the backfield.
Finally, the impact of the past 96 hours broadsides tight end Wesley Walls, a good-ol'-boy-former-unrestricted-free agent who previously played for San Francisco and New Orleans and now has made his first Pro Bowl. ``Golly, with all these stars and with all this success,'' he says, ``now we've gotta go out and play up to our reputations. Don't want to make a mess of it.'' His teammates understand. Three days later, they lure the Baltimore Ravens into PantherWorld, which is housed within the spacious confines of Ericsson Stadium. The hapless Ravens are subdued, 27-13. The Panthers now are a gaudy 11-4 with one regular-season game remaining - at home against the Steelers on Sunday. A victory earns them the NFC West title, a playoff bye and a home contest in the second round. Given that scenario, they have the ability level to advance to the NFC title game but no further. And just think, they didn't sign their first players until December 15, 1994.
A controlled environment
In PantherWorld, the owner is a former Colts star named Jerry Richardson, who sold the NFL on putting a franchise in a region where the ball of choice is bounced, not thrown in a spiral. Richardson is wise enough to hire football people to run his organization, then get out of the way. But with PantherWorld sitting within conservative Charlotte, he also is in tune enough with the region to demand a team as straight-laced and respectful as can possibly be developed in the permissive '90s - and a stadium atmosphere unlike any other in the NFL. So the players are mostly blue-collar and small in ego. And fans have found that bare chests and homemade signs and smoking don't have a place in PantherWorld, where wholesomeness rules and a warm, fuzzy feeling is the prevailing emotion. So what if things seem a bit controlled?
In PantherWorld, humility prevails. No one boasts about the quick success; gosh darn, it's all so nice, but we're really still not the franchise we want to be. But underneath the perkiness is a steely-minded, no-nonsense approach in which failure is not an option. There never was a question the franchise would succeed, only when. ``We figured it would take four years to make the playoffs,'' says President Mike McCormack, the Hall of Fame offensive tackle who gave structure to Richardson's organization.
General Manager Bill Polian sets the tone for the organization. Tough and feisty with a quick temper and a legendary combativeness, he cuts through life with a sense of purpose that has little tolerance for idleness or incompetence. Architect of the Buffalo teams that made four straight Super Bowl appearances to open the '90s, Polian was fired by owner Ralph Wilson after the 1992 season to end personality conflicts in the front office.
Now, with the Panthers, he is re-establishing his reputation as one of the league's best personnel men. His peers recognized his work last season by voting him The Sporting News' NFL Executive of the Year, but he did as well, if not better, this past off-season by adding even more quality talent and depth.
A new kind of expansion
Outside PantherWorld, there is an underlying resentment around the league about the many advantages the Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars, their expansion counterparts, had to jump-start their developments, including extra choices in the 1995 and '96 drafts and all of the cash they had available to sign unrestricted free agents. No other expansion franchises have started in such a generous environment; certainly the tools were available to avoid the slow and difficult climb to respectability encountered by previous expansion clubs.
But the Panthers also did not waste their opportunities. They made excellent decisions and committed few mistakes in signing unrestricted free agents, spending money wisely to bring in a core of difference-makers, particularly on defense, who have accelerated the success process. Five of the Pro Bowl choices - Lathon (1995), Mills ('95), Greene ('96), Walls ('96) and cornerback Eric Davis ('96) - were big-ticket, veteran free agents who have flourished in PantherWorld.
And don't say those signings were no-brainers. Both Greene and Mills were considered to be at the end of their careers, and Walls had started only 18 games in seven previous seasons. But this is what free agency can accomplish: After 1995, the Panthers needed to upgrade outside linebacker (Greene), tight end (Walls), cornerback (Davis) and the return game (Michael Bates). All four players made the Pro Bowl.
The master plan created by Polian and McCormack to build a winner has evolved brilliantly: Use free-agent money on veterans to build a strong defense; construct a solid kicking game that could salvage some close victories; and utilize the draft to put together an offense, concentrating first on finding a cornerstone quarterback.
The Panthers knew it would be easier to find playmakers on defense than offense. And they had enough confidence in their own abilities to believe they could keep renewing the talent of the defense by adding new free agents, so that unit never got too old.
That defense, devised around the zone blitz, is strong enough now to form the foundation of a weekly game plan that emphasizes applying pressure on the quarterback to create turnovers, minimal mistakes on offense and a kicking game that creates favorable field position. Averaging almost 31 years, this is the league's oldest defense - only one draft choice, cornerback Tyrone Poole, starts - but these guys don't play old. The club is ranked first in fewest points surrendered - the unit has given up just 56 points in the second halves of games; so much for the geezers wearing out - and first in sacks (56).
``We keep telling everyone the team may be 2 years old, but we aren't a group of sophomores playing this game,'' says Davis, the 49ers import. ``We are guys who understand the game. We expect to do well, we expect to win and we have the experience to do it.''
That experience helps when executing Capers' zone-blitz approach, which he developed during his three years as defensive coordinator in Pittsburgh. Changing aspects of the scheme weekly, the Panthers now employ it to a greater extent than the Steelers to rush quarterbacks from ever-altering angles and positions.
``They come at you with a little more [defensive] looks than Pittsburgh,'' Ravens coach Ted Marchibroda says. ``But their two outside linebackers, Lathon and Greene, are just as effective as when the Steelers had [Greg] Lloyd and Greene. The zone blitz is still confusing to a lot of offenses; it creates indecision because of the pressure and coverages, and that gives them an edge.''
The special teams have two Pro Bowl players, kicker John Kasay, one of the team's initial free-agent acquisitions who leads the league in scoring, and Bates, a 1992 Olympic bronze medalist in the 200 meters who consistently has given the team great field position with a kickoff-return average of 31 yards, the highest in the NFL since 1976.
Getting offensive
The great unknown would be the offense. In the '95 draft, the Panthers felt they got lucky when quarterback Kerry Collins, considered by Polian to be a franchise player, was available. ``Some years, there just aren't great quarterbacks out there, but we were in the right place in the right year,'' Polian says. Some scouts thought Collins would be hindered by a hitch in his delivery; Polian was convinced Collins would become the cornerstone of the offense.
Collins already is giving a hint of his future ability. He started 13 games last season (the Panthers won seven of those contests), but he threw 14 touchdown passes and was intercepted 19 times. This season, between knee and shoulder injuries that have kept him out of all or part of six games, he has improved his decision-making and reduced his errors.
During the team's current winning streak, he has six touchdown passes and three interceptions in four starts. The other two victories were directed by veteran backup Steve Beuerlein, who was signed as a free agent after playing for the Jaguars last season. Beuerlein has been impressive in relief, including a top-notch showing in a September triumph over the 49ers.
But Collins, whose greased-back hair and long sideburns make him look like a character from the old television series Laverne and Shirley, was even better in the 49ers rematch. Capers didn't think the Panthers' usual approach of run first, throw second would work against ground-stingy San Francisco. So he opened things up for Collins, who responded with a 327-yard, three-touchdown performance.
Now, in PantherWorld, the young quarterback isn't playing so young anymore. ``I really feel like I've done something now, and it's made me feel like an NFL quarterback,'' Collins says in the aftermath of that showing against the 49ers. ``I can't honestly say I've really felt that way before.''
Carolina has kept things together on offense despite a season-ending knee injury to Tshimanga Biakabutuka, its '96 No.1 draft pick, that cut severely into the running game's explosiveness. His replacement, Anthony Johnson, had been slotted as a third-down specialist but has gained more than 1,000 yards rushing in a starting role. And a young offensive line has been shuffled all season because of injuries, resulting in the need to start three different left tackles and three different right tackles.
Still, during the winning streak, the Panthers have turned over the ball just six times. With the defense recording 19 takeaways over that span, Carolina is displaying the formula that could produce playoff success. The Panthers simply don't beat themselves or give opponents lots of opportunities for field position.
``They just play very good defense and make very few mistakes on offense,'' says New York Giants Coach Dan Reeves, whose team lost to Carolina, 27-17, this season. ``Those are the hardest teams to beat.''
Just the right mix
Capers is firm but understanding. He tries to be consistent with his emotions, using intelligence instead of anger to motivate. Polian and Capers also made wise leadership choices in the locker room. Coaches can be less concerned about morale when Mills, Davis, Greene and others provide peer guidance.
``We all have a certain niche on the field and in the locker room,'' Davis says. `I think they made sure they had the right mix of guys who can police certain things that coaches can't do. There are certain things you handle inside the locker room; it comes to a point where the players have to take over the team. I don't mean being defiant, but you have to have certain guys within that huddle who can police the group.''
Not that anyone in PantherWorld needs a lot of policing. In this fantasy world, where good guys roam, no one wants to be the reason this fantasy ends.
LENGTH: Long : 251 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. & 2. STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS STAFF Signing quarterbackby CNBKerry Collins (left) was just one of several ingenious personnel
moves made by Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson (center) and
head coach Dom Capers (right). Seven Panthers were selected to the
Pro Bowl this season.